Herniation of an intervertebral disc often presses on adjacent nerves causing pain and numbness. Surgery to resect the herniation and provide clearance for the nerves is one solution. However, access to the disc is limited by important surrounding anatomy including the spinous process, lamina and facets.
Discectomy tubes are cylindrical tubes employed to facilitate surgical access for surgery on intervertebral discs. These tubes are inserted through a skin incision and push away muscle and other intervening tissues to provide a pathway to the disc. Placement of such tubes is often lateral of the spinous process because the distal end of the discectomy tube is blocked by the spinous process. The end result is that only a lateral portion of the tube is providing access to the disc and most instrumentation has to extend through the tube at a sharp angle, reducing the effectiveness of the tube.
Some surgeons address this problem by selectively resecting some portion of the distal end of the tube to afford clearance for the spinous process. This allows the tube to be axially oriented more directly toward the herniation. However, selective resection of the tube can be tedious and haphazard resulting in less-optimal surgical working conditions.
Improvements in discectomy tubes are therefore desired.